The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-01
Special Contributors.
THE RELIGIOUS SABBATH.
BY REV. MARY j. DE LONG.
(Neenah, Wis.,

(Neenah, Wis.,
Is the observance of the Sabbath sim
ply the keeping of law? If we kept
the law of Moses, the only real, divine
law we have upon the subject, the
fourth commandment would be of
binding force over Christians as over
Jews, and the seventh day of the week
would be the proper one to observe.
This law which Moses gave to his peo-
pie has never been repealed by any
statute of equally binding force. The
Christian practice of keeping the first
day proves that the Sabbath is not pri-
marily founded in law. The Sabbath
is founded in the needs of man. 1t was
made for man. All that any law can
do is to recognize this fact, and enforce
it upon the attention of those who are
disposed to disregard their own welfare.
A law with God, is not an arbitrary
enactment, it is constitutional order,
an elementary principle. The divine
law as given to us in the Bible is only
a revelation given to man concerning
this order to which he must conform
his life if he would get for himself the
highest degree of happiness and pros
perity. The law is but the expression,
in human language, of the eternal con-
stitutional order upon which human
nature in its elements and needs is
founded. The keeping of the Sabbath
is the proper observance of this order,
because the Sabbath was made for
mans elementary needs.
We find this adaptation to human
needs first in the command of rest from
labor. This law of rest strik es down to
the most imperative of all human needs;
it is law bedded in the physical con-
stitution of man; without it health
must fail and finally life be the forfeit.
Every movement of the bodily organs,
every motion, voluntary or inyolun-
tary, exhausts some part OF the body
of strength9bereave it of power. This
exhaustion can only be made good in
hours of complete relaxation and rest.
For this reason God has ordained the
day and the night, and evenly balanced
them all over the earth. But these night
hours are not sufficient for these ply
sicial needs, especially since the dis
covery and almost universal use of arti-
fetal light has 50 prolonged the time
for work, or for active pleasure. 10
this equal distribution of day and night
all civilized nations particularly need
the addition of one day in seven in
which total abstinence from work gives
the brain, the nerves, the muscles time
to renew the waste tissue, and to re-
clothe themselves with power. Men may
refuse to keep this law but they cannot
abrogate it. This need of rest is inher-
ent in the physical constitution of men;
they cannot change it. The day and
night, the proportion of one full day of
rest in seven are the decree of unerring
wisdom. The Sabbath cannot be abro-
gated, or used by men for other puT-
poses than those of rest except at their
peril.
The need of worship, as the express
sion of mans religious nature, s, like
his need for rest, imperative. AT what
time the Sabbath began to be used as :
day of worship is obscure. The first men
tion of such use is in Lev. xiii, 3. "Si>
days shall work be done; but the sew
enth is the Sabbath of rest, holy con,
vocation; We shall do no work therein
This ''holy convocation" may hay'
been a meeting for worship; in whicl
the reading Of the Mosaic law, som,
form of responses and the chanting o
psalms. formed the principal features.
Man is a religious being 10y nature
lust as he is a loving or hoping being
The idea of God is constitutional il
the soul of man. II is something no
imparted from without through the en-
vironment, nor super imposed frOn
some higher nature, but something tina
is elementary. The idea Of God exist
in man. AS the image Of God. 1t is in
nate ip the soul Of the savage as well a
the sage. Where ever there are huma
beings with any fern of mental expires
sion. one of these forms is worship
This sense of God with us is the gel
minal principle in all religions. Whe
God be-athej into mau the breath g